Let's make one thing clear I am a total whiskey n00b! Until recently my only experience as a whiskey Connoisseur has been drinking Jack n' Coke every now and again when I feel like a little break from beer.
Awhile ago a friend shared a few high shelf whiskey's with me and I realized I actually quite like the unique flavors and subtle differences between each distiller. I rarely drank whiskey unmixed before because from memory it just tasted like fire and turpentine, but in fact most are very smooth and easy to drink straight if you like to sip and not skull your booze. I now cringe when people say they love whiskey but only with Coca-Cola! That's not whiskey! that's whiskey flavored Coke! Just like coffee with milk and sugar (and vanilla shot's if you're exceptionally precious) is not coffee!
The reason I've decided to review whiskey is just to have a journal for myself which can act as a reference point so I know which Whiskey's to go back to and which ones to avoid. It will also be an interesting experiment to see how my palette and tastes evolve over time.
But as a reader why would you read my review when you could read reviews from professional whiskey Connoisseur? Well I figure my reviews might be more helpful to people that are new to whiskeys, they might be looking for a simpler more smooth drink to get acquainted with. While expert palettes might be more likely to recommend much more rich textured whiskeys that taste like leather and tobacco. (I'm probably just talking shit, I'm sure the pros write for a wide range of drinkers.)
Enough rambling lets start this Whiskey journey with "Slane - Irish Whiskey"!
A few notes about the company before I get to the smell and the taste. Slane was launched in 2017 by The Brown-Forman Corporation one of the largest American-owned alcohol companies. The Slane brand name comes from the Slane Castle, a castle belonging to the aristocratic Conyngham family and located about 30 minutes from Dublin. This Whiskey is distilled by an undisclosed third-party producer but blended by the crew at Slane.
The Whiskey is blended, both grain and malt and triple casked. Firstly in a standard virgin oak barrel, a seasoned oak barrel and then finally a sherry oak barrel.
How does it smell? The smells I'm getting are stewed apples with cinnamon, very fruity. I'm getting honeycomb, slight hints of banana and caramel. Not overpoweringly strong. Very Nice!
The Taste? Some whiskeys taste very different to their smell. Not this one however. This Irish Whiskey to me actually tastes a lot like Wild Turkey. I'm guessing the reason for this similarity is because it is casked in Virgin Oak which is a requirement for all bourbons (see I'm not such a n00b after all). The whiskey is smooth, not ultra smooth like Canadian Club but just the right amount of "burn" without knocking your socks off. Again I'm getting most the flavor notes as mentioned in the smell. Stewed apples, cinnamon, vanilla, banana. I'm trying to detect the flavor from the Sherry cask, I don't typically drink Sherry so It might be harder for me to recognize. I do get somewhat of a red-wine flavor in the after taste.
In summary it's a very good whiskey in my opinion, especially for n00bs like myself. I was lucky enough to get this whiskey at a discount price, but generally it is quite an expensive whiskey at least it is here in Australia averaging around $60 a bottle. For the money I'm not sure that I would pay full price (at least not regularly). I'd be just as happy with a bottle of Monkey Shoulder or even good ol' reliable Jamerson. If you find this one at a discount I would would recommend it 100% Otherwise it's still worth checking out. I'm sure most people won't be disappointed.
Drink Responsibly
